Death Penalty in Connecticut: Arguments For and Against Continue

Susan Campbell

It's always the most heinous crimes that force the discussion about capital punishment. State legislators tried to abolish the death penalty in 2009, but Gov. M. Jodi Rell refused to sign the bill, and in her veto statement, she quoted Dr. William Petit, Jr., the survivor of a horrific home invasion in 2007 in which his wife and two daughters were killed.

A bill to reform the death penalty died in committee in March 2010.

Steven Hayes' trial started Monday in Superior Court in New Haven. He faces capital felony and multiple murder, kidnapping, rape and arson charges in that awful crime in which a mother and her daughters — Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Hayley and Michaela —- were killed, and a father, William, severely beaten.

It is uncomfortable to raise the issue, even while Petit, who has become a staunch advocate of the death penalty, sits on the front row in court. But since 1986, the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty has worked to eliminate capital punishment because it is poor public policy. Making the case for the death penalty from a theological standpoint is tough, as well. The network has some 200 clergy members who've signed on opposing it. Heidi Hadsell, Hartford Seminary president, said that although not all Christians oppose capital punishment, "many…take a principled stand against the death penalty. We support our position by appealing to our belief in the sacredness of all of life, grounded in God's love for all of humanity."

The Rev. Gary Richards, at New Covenant United Methodist Church of East Hartford, said, "It's not for humans to be taking lives, whether it's in the context of war or the death penalty."

Rabbi Herbert Brockman, of Hamden's Congregation Mishkan Israel, remembers listening to radio accounts of the 1953 execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage.

"It was so horrendous and so clear that this was political," Brockman said. "Some people claimed it was also anti-Semitic; it certainly was political. It's bizarre how we have institutionalized executions, and claim to be a moral society."

But then there is the sad sight of William Petit testifying at legislative committee meetings, speaking out in favor of capital punishment. At a debate on the death penalty, a man who once worked with Petit asked the rabbi what he would say to the doctor, directly.

"I completely understand the way he feels," Brockman said. "If it were my family, I would want to do it personally, but we live in a civilized society. We can't allow those instincts to take over. It's not about the crime, or the victims. This is about us, as a society."